Following UYU | Qudans’ victory at the TWT finals last year in November. It seems as if there has been a widespread increase in the amount of Devil Jin players. Traditionally, we have seen Dragunov and Jack dominate tournaments with top players such as EchoFox | JDCR and EchoFox | SAINT opting for these two characters. But it seems as if the TEKKEN team have decided to add some ‘stealth nerfs’ to Devil Jin after UYU | Qudans’ victory at the TWT finals.
The Tekken community were beginning to get bored of this familiar match up until a returning legend came back to eventually win with Devil Jin. A character with an exceptionally high skill ceiling that requires almost perfect execution and movement to master. He took the event by storm by defeating the ruling champion EchoFox | JDCR as well as COOASGames | Noroma and EchoFox | Saint.
What was nerfed?
Since then it appears that there has been a stealth nerf to Devil Jin according to Tekken Youtuber; Narakhof. This stealth nerf may have not been purposely concealed, but it was indeed missing from the patch notes. Some of Devil Jin’s tracking moves deterred players from sidestepping.
When facing Mishimas it is common to SWL (Sidewalk left), in order to avoid EWGF and Hellsweep. These moves can still be realigned by dashing in, but at high level movement needs to be calculated and a very subtle meta change is played out. Devil Jin’s Hellsweep can also be avoided by SWL, which is exceptionally important because Devil Jin’s Hellsweep launches and is an integral part of his offensive capability.
As Narakhoff explains in his short 4 minute video, some of Devil Jin’s moveset has been nerfed. Key moves such as EWGF (Electric Wind God Fist), which normally tracks to the opponent’s right now does not seem to track at all. Narakhoff demonstrates that you can now avoid it by SSR (Sidestep right) and ducking. FF2, an incredibly important move that creates a KND (Knockdown) and WS (Wallsplat) and can be done out of wavedash seems to also have had its tracking reduced. UF4 has had similar nerfs.
Why is this significant?
Devil Jin players would use EWGF as a way to make players SWL. This would then create an opportunity to hit the opponent with moves such as FF2 and UF4. These moves both KND and the latter leads to guaranteed damage with ‘dash in’ B4. Devil Jin’s strong okizeme tools then create a mix up once the opponent is grounded. If they choose to stay grounded, they would be at risk from ‘dash in’ B4 or D1+2. If they choose however to Techroll and they can be hit with the infamous ‘Hellsweep’ a low hitting launcher that is unseeable. If they choose to backroll, they can be floated with CD4 (Crouch dash 4) or ‘dash in’ EWGF, so this makes Devil Jin very scary and gives the opponent a whole lot to consider when defending in this situation.
Removing this meta in Devil Jin’s game effectively means that you can avoid all of Devil Jin’s best options with one easy option. SSR and duck. 5 of his most effective moves can all be evaded with one slight movement of the hand. It is important to mention that Devil Jin still has his BF21 series, otherwise known as ‘Laser scraper’ that still tracks to the left and right.
This raises the question, did Devil Jin get nerfed because he was unintentionally too strong? Or was it because the changes were needed after the TEKKEN team saw what a capable Devil Jin can do? More importantly, why were these very crucial changes left out of the patch notes? Was UYU | Qudans’ skill with this character too menacing? He certainly did make using Devil Jin look like child’s play. What's your take on this? Let us know your thoughts and opinions via social media, we look forward to hearing from you.
You can watch the full video here (English subtitles available).
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